00:57, 7 November 2018

Idea of memorial in Khaibakh points to inconsistency of Chechen memory policy

View of Grozny-City from the memorial complex in Grozny. Photo courtesy of an eyewitness

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has ordered to erect a memorial complex in the place of the former village of Khaibakh in the Galanchozh District of Chechnya, where several hundred locals were killed during the deportation of Chechens, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed at the office of the head and the government of Chechnya.

The operation under the coded name of "Chechevitsa" (lentils), during which nearly 500,000 people were evicted from Chechnya and Ingushetia to Kazakhstan and Central Asia, was held from February 23 to March 9, 1944. Mass desertions, evading the conscription at wartime and a preparation of an armed uprising in the Soviet rear were announced as the grounds for the deportation.

The construction of a memorial in non-inhabited area after the demolition of the monument to deportation victims in Grozny is illogical, residents of Grozny believe.

“The position of the republic's leadership is not completely clear. Khaibakh is an abandoned village; nobody lives there; almost the entire population was liquidated in February 1944. Now, they decided to erect a monument there, although only four years ago, a memorial complex to victims of Stalin's deportation was dismantled; even federals did not destroy it during the two wars," Ismail, a Grozny resident, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Why should they build a monument or a memorial where no one lives? Same was with the monument to women-residents of Dadi-Yurt, who perished during the Caucasian War – it is also located far from dwelling settlements; it is visited once a year when the republic celebrates the Chechen Woman's Day," Petimat, a teacher from one of Grozny schools, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 6, 2018 at 07:27 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: CK correspondent